P.R.E.S.T.A.V.B.A. Translation Notes

Notes on the translations in the "1988 - P.R.E.S.T.A.V.B.A." piece for 50 Years of Text Games.
http://if50.substack.com/p/1988-prestavba

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"UV SOFTWARE SI U PRILEZITOSTI..."

The article shows the full opening title screen of the original Spectrum version of the game in Czech and then English; the translation is my own. The acronym is a somewhat creative alteration of the original to make it work as an acronym in English. The original reads:

	"Program Revolucni Experimentalni Socialisticky Tvorive Avantgardni Voloviny Basniku a Analfabetu"

With some consultation from a native speaker, I arrived at the following approximate literal translation:

	"Poets and Illiterates Program of Revolutionary Experimental Socialistically Creative and Avant-Garde Drivel"

Reworking this to function as an English acronym for PERESTROIKA (with just a little cheating), my rendering of this is:

	"Program for Experimental REvolutionary Socialist TRipe by Obvious Illiterates and Kooky Authors"


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"the life-long dream of all of us was that we would one day have a computer at home"

This is my translation of Fídler from a Czech interview here: http://zivel.net/archiv?magazin=8&kapitola=133 . The original is "A životní sen nás všech byl, že budeme mít někdy počítač doma."


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"[it] could be told to print letters through some crazy method..."

This is my translation of Fídler from the same interview; the original is "Já měl TI-58 s tiskárnou, na které se nějakým šíleným způsobem daly tisknout písmena. Takže jsem udělal program, který skládal věty ze slov."


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"The first software [we had access to]..."

Again my translation from the same interview, this time of Rylek. Original is: "První software přece byly ty listingy programů v časopisech. Člověk to naťukal do počítače a divil se, proč to nefunguje."


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Other translations: these are from the mentioned sources, presumably translated by the authors.

From Jaroslav Švelch's book Gaming the Iron Curtain:
"One of the games that I released was offered back to me..." (p.136)
"had always wanted to make a living programming" (p.206)

From the Fiscutean Ars Technica piece (https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2020/10/how-indiana-jones-fought-the-communists-and-led-an-era-of-activist-video-games/):

"Next to the phone, I had some basic questions and answers..."
"I was so proud of my technical abilities"

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Other Game Excerpts

These translations are my own. The original excerpts (from the original Spectrum version of the game) are as follows. Player input is shown surrounded by asterisks, emphasized text is surrounded with underlines.


Excerpt 1:

STOJIS V MALE ZAPRASENE MISTNO-
STI.


VYCHODY: S,J,Z
VIDIS POKLOP.

			_PROLETARI VSECH ZEMI,SPOJTE SE !_

*ZAPAD*

STOJIS V TMAVEM VYKLENKU.


VYCHODY: V
VIDIS ZAPALOVAC.

			_SMRT IMPERIALISTICKYM STVACUM !_

*VEZMI ZAPALOVAC*

VZAL JSI ZAPALOVAC

*PROZKOUMEJ ZAPALOVAC*

--------------------------------
JISTE BY S NIM SLO LECOS ZAPA-
LIT.JE TO TOTIZ KVALITNI ZAPALO-
VAC. "MADE IN USSR".

*ZAPAL ZAPALOVAC*

--------------------------------
ZAPALOVAC VYNECHAL...

			_SLAVA LENINSKE POLITICE STRANY !_



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Excerpt 2:

*V*

JSI NA SPINAVEM ZACHODE.RADSI
TO NEBUDU PRILIS POPISOVAT,MOHLO
BY SE TI UDELAT NEVOLNO.


VYCHODY: Z
VIDIS MISU.
-----------

*PROZKOUMEJ MISU*

JE UPLNE ZASCHLA.
NECO JSI NASEL !

VIDIS KNIHU,MISU.

		_ZA OSVOBOZENI VYKORISTOVANYCH !

*PROZKOUMEJ KNIHU*

JE TO MARXUV KAPITAL.


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Excerpt 3:

*KOPAT*

NECHCE SE TI MAKAT.

*PRECTI ÚVODNÍK*

PRECETL JSI SI UVODNIK RUDEHO
PRAVA.OKAMZITE JSI DOSTAL CHUT
K PRACI, KTERA JE ZAKLADNI CTI
SOCIALISTICKEHO OBCANA.

*KOPAT*

PODARILO SE TI PROKOPAT SE
DO NIZSIHO PODLAZI !


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Excerpt 4:

JE VIDET, ZE SOCIALISTICKY CLO-
VEK SI PORADI V KAZDE SITUACI...

JESTE JEDNOU GRATULUJI.SEJDEME
SE VSICHNI _21.SRPNA_ NA STARO-
MESTSKEM NAMESTI...(NEBO JINDE)